Yugo can remember the day when Rin was taken. He had been out riding their D-Wheel and when he got back to the garage of the orphanage, Rin had been waiting there. She comes over and asks if everything is all right with the bike, if anything feels off. The next thing he knows they're arguing over something stupid and Rin runs off, tears streaming down her face. He wants to go after her, but Crow shows up and Yugo explains to him what happened. The red-hair duelist tells him to let Rin calm down before going after her. Two hours pass, and even if she is still mad at him, Yugo decides that would be better than nothing.
Grabbing the D-Wheel he and Rin made, Yugo takes to the streets; looking on the sidewalks and in every ally to see if she might be there. It's dark when he finally finds her in an ally, some guy that looks like him has her over his shoulder, a sickening wicked grin on his face.
"Rin!" He remembers calling out. His twin, who is wearing a cloak but Yugo can tell he has purple-hair, activates a spell card. The light coming from the card becomes so bright that Yugo has to close his eyes, and when the light dies down opening his eyes his twin and Rin are gone. Then everything with forming into Zarc and Arc-V reviving Ray happens in a big blur, dueling Rin while she is possessed by the Doktor.
Now he's back here, and all alone.
Ruri can remember the day of the invasion. She and Yuto had been on the second floor of their school. Barely anyone is in the hallways so she was leaning against the lockers while Yuto is against the rail of the balcony. He has just texted Shun to get Yuto's extra deck and duel disk from his locker. Ruri has hers since the teachers and students know of the dueling contest that is happening after school.
Then, a blast happens and Yuto is hanging on the ruins of the balcony and she is summoning Lyrilusc-Independent Nightingale, just as Yuto's grip on the tile floor slips and he's falling to the ground.
"Independent Nightingale, save Yuto!" She commands. Her ace monster does as she says and flies down, catching Yuto in her hand before he hits the ground. She flies back to her mistress and places Yuto on the ground next to her before disappearing. "Are you all right?" She asks him concerned.
"I'm fine. Thank you." Yuto tells her.
"Ruri! Yuto!" Both look to the left side of the hallway to see Shun coming their way. That's when Shay tells them about the soldiers dressed in blue, even some in yellow and red, challenging people to duels.
Heartland is in ruins that day. The next day Shun and Yuto and Kite and Allen and a few others form a resistance against their enemies. The destruction happening around her. . . . that isn't what her and Saya's dueling teacher, Mr. Sakaki, has taught them. Dueling is for fun and entertainment not destruction and war. Her brother and Yuto even change their attire, and it saddens her.
Her best friend and brother are no longer themselves. But she remembers calling out her beliefs one day when helping Saya get up from the destroyed streets of Heartland. Yuto is near by and hears her. After she is kidnapped by Yuri and brought to Fusion for who knows how long, it isn't until the whole Arc-V thing is over with that she finds out that Yuto took her words to heart and stuck by them while hopping across dimensions to find her.
Looking at the stars, Ruri can feel the tears in her eyes as she sees some birds in the night sky. She and Yuto used to watch them all the time.
Yuri is walking in the gardens of Duel Academy. It has been months since the final battle against Zarc and Ray and Yuya making little Riley laugh. He has since gone into Serena's rooms when she had been a student here and in Pendulum. After she becoming a Lancer, she decided that she wanted to see the other dimensions. See what some of their dueling schools have to offer and maybe go into an actual school.
She is not getting that chance now.
Yuri wishes that she could fulfill her dreams, make them a reality.
He has gotten rid of his ancient gear deck and the only other deck he uses besides his own is hers. He figures it is the best he can do since she is the one who should have survived instead of him. She was the good one out of him and her. They never had an actual relationship, only seeing each other in passing and hearing whispers of each other from others.
Why he has been given a second chance and not her he will never know. He remembers hearing of a girl that had a lunar-dancer deck. He always wanted to see it compare against his own but now that day will never come, not unless he gives Serena's deck to someone else for a duel and even then, it just doesn't feel right. He wants duel against Serena and her deck, not just her deck.
He recalls her as being snarky and independent and witty. What is the point of wanting to duel against someone if you can't actually duel them?
Zuzu is still in shock after it all. She remembers merging with Rin, Serena, and Ruri. She remembers going into Zarc's mind to help Yuya fight him and then everything went black. When she woke-up she was back home, in the stadium where the Arc League Championship had been held. Everyone one of her's and Yuya's friends from across the dimensions were there.
Even Mr. Sakaki. Her dad was more than overjoyed to see her and held in a big bear hug, not that she complained. Then she looked around and asked where Yuya was. Mr. and Mrs. Sakaki held each other close before crying.
That's when Declan came over and told her: The spirit of Ray came out of the Arc-V reactor, but in doing so only four of the counterparts survived. Her, Ruri, Yugo, and Yuri. Even some of their friends from the other dimensions did not survive. Jack, Shinji, Sora, Dennis, Reed Pepper, Aura did not survive. Only many people in Xyz did, Saya, Kite, Allen, and Shay.
The only one that didn't had been Yuto.
It's been a month since that and Zuzu is still having trouble adjusting to a life without Yuya. It's hard. She and Gong will sometimes turn to ask Yuya a question or his opinion on something only for it to come crashing back. Zuzu still has her fan ready to hit Yuya for insulting her or making a stupid remark but she doesn't use it much nowadays, not even on her dad.
In three weeks it will be the school dance. The first dance where Alexis, Aster, Grace, Gloria, and some other Fusion's are going to attend for the first time. Even in Xyz they're going to have a school dance, and Yugo has told her that the night of their school dances is when the entire city of New Domino is coming together and having one big dance with Commons and Tops alike. Yugo is excited for it, but also knows Rin is going to miss out.
This is also her first school dance without Yuya. She and Yuya and Gong always went together; sure there have been times when Gong had been sick but she always had Yuya. They'd even dance together because they really didn't consider some of their other classmates friends or they didn't ask anyone or did anyone ask them.
It feels so weird.
She has her dress.
It's light-green no-strap dress. It reaches her knees and she has white shoes and some fake orange flowers to put into her hair. She wonders what Yuya would wear if he was still here. What would he think of her dress? Of her? If only she had Serena and Yuto around, they were the ones around him the most and could tell her what he might think.
There is Gong, and Mr. and Mrs. Sakaki, but they are still grieving for their son and Zuzu wonders how Yusho can still go on with entertainment dueling; he helped Yuya a lot with it when Yuya was a kid and it was a big bond between the father and son. Yuya did it when his dad first went missing as a way to continue his legacy, but Yusho still has a smile on his face, win or lose, and Zuzu knows that it's a sad one.
Hearing her phone go off Zuzu goes over and sees some photos on them. The first is from Ruri. She's wearing a black dress that has a little poof on the skirt and short-shoulder-sleeves, her cream colored jacket-vest, a dark green tie, and black wedged boots. Her hair is all the way down and has a flower crown of black and purple flowers.
The next is from Yugo. Crow helped him pick out a suit. It's a sky-wind blue, white undershirt, a green vest and a light pink tie. He's wearing white shoes.
The final one is from Yuri. It's a light grey suit, white vest, red shirt, and black tie and shoes. A purple flower in the pocket of his jacket. He honestly doesn't look half bad for someone who has never done anything like this.
Now, if Zuzu could only have had one last dance with Yuya before losing him.
